Copying CDs could be made legal (in the UK)

Now that’s some good news. The prohibition of something that is so innately a part of the digital world never made sense – just to view this web page, you have to create a copy of the page on the anaj.wordpress.com server. Copying is the foundation of digital prosperity, so to speak. Putting a ban on it is schizophrenic. The BBC reports:

Millions of people already “rip” discs to their computers and move the files to MP3 players, although the process is technically against copyright law.

Intellectual property minister Lord Triesman said the law should be changed so it “keeps up with the times”.

Music industry bodies gave a cautious welcome to the proposals, which are up for public consultation until 8 April.

The changes would apply only to people copying music for personal use – meaning multiple copying and internet file-sharing would still be banned.

Owners would not be allowed to sell or give away their original discs once they had made a copy. […]

Lord Triesman said the proposed changes would explore “where the boundaries lie between strong protection for right holders and appropriate levels of access for users”.

The proposals also suggest schools and libraries should be given greater flexibility in how they use copyrighted material like CDs and DVDs, and suggests parodies of songs and films could be made exempt from copyright law.

The consultation follows the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, which recommended that aspects of the intellectual property system should be reformed.

The UK has got a minister for intellectual property – how cool is that?